Kristina Pogranichnaya is one of the most promising Ukrainian gymnast!

Sport is very unpredictable. One day you are the winner, the next day you are replaced by a more successful sportsman. Rhythmic gymnastics is not an exception. Time flows, children grow….and new promising gymnasts impress us with their achievements.

Kristina Pogranichnaya is an Ukrainian gymnast who adores rhythmic gymnastics and who wants to be perfect in it. She has won several competitions that’s why she’s getting more and more popular. Let us find out more about her.

Kristina Pogranichnaya is one of the most promising Ukrainian gymnasts of her age. At the moment she is performing among gymnasts that were born in 2003-2004. She is one of the best gymnasts of her age. She has acquired numerous victories and prizes of international competitions. Right after her recent success at competitions in Hungary we decided to get in touch with Kristina’s mother whose name’s also Kristina.

-          Tell us about your family.

-          My family is a doctors’ dynasty of several generations. I’m also a doctor, a maxillofacial surgeon, a Candidate of Medical Sciences, I teach at medical university. My husband, Alexander, used to be a journalist but for the last 15 years he has been working in the sphere of communications and PR. He is an active civil figure. Each member of our family is fond of sport. I used to dance till my 10^th form at school. My husband is an alpinist, mountain life-saver. Our elder daughter, Olesya, goes in for karate. We all love active kind of rest.

-          Do your daughters get on well together?

-          Yes, in general, they are friendly. They support and take care of each other. But sometimes little unpleasant moments happen.

-          How did Kristina start her sport career? Why was rhythmic gymnastics chosen?

-          At first we took our girls to ballet classes. They started to have their first successes but at ballet dances you depend on your partners. They visit section and then they give it up. We decided to take girls to rhythmic gymnastics because there is no such dependence.

-          Now Irina Ruda is Kristina’s coach. And who was the first coach?

-          I accidentally found out that Irina Ruda created a new rhythmic gymnastics section. When we came to a sport hall, it turned out that we knew each other without seeing. She was at the same course with my brother at medical university. Later we found out that Irina Evgenievna graduated the physical education university in absentia, entered post-graduate course, defended a Candidate thesis, worked at gymnastics sub-faculty and organized “Nika” club. It was in 2008.

-          Do you agree that you are lucky to have Irina Ruda? She loves what she does and it is very noticeable.

-          Yes, definitely. Irina Ruda adores what she does and makes other people love it. This is her most wonderful trait. Children feel it and respond to it mutually. Moreover, Irina Evgenievna hired a highly-qualified team of coaches.

-          When did you understand that Kristina goes in for gymnastics seriously?

-          It’s hard to describe. But when you see that after she had taken the 4^th or the 6^th place she started to train even harder; or when she spent three days at competitions and came back home at 4 a.m. and then she rushes to training at 10 a.m. – you understand that it is serious. Instead of family trip on holidays she chooses sport team camps.

-          How much do you spend on costumes, apparatuses and trips?

-          All expenses are from family budget. It is expensive. But it is impossible to refuse a child who is crazy about a kind of sport she does. Our task is to help her as much as we can.

-          Who is in charge of leotards and make-up for Kristina?

-          I don’t interfere in it. I rely on coaches and professionals of that kind.

-          Could you describe her character?

-          She is determined, stubborn and hard-working. But at the same time she is very sensitive and calm. She is very responsible and attentive. Kristina loves communicating with children but when she steps on a carpet – a training or a competition one – everything else doesn’t matter.

-          What does she love?

-          Apart from gymnastics? Kristina loves cooking. Together with her great-grandmother they bake delicious cakes and biscuits. On Sunday mornings she brings breakfast to our bed.

-          Does she have enough time for studying?

-          She studies perfectly at one of the best private gymnasiums of Lvov. She goes to bed later, gets up earlier. She reads in the car on our way to school or to training. She learns poems by heart on our way back home from training. It is surprising but she manages to have time for everything.

-          This is an eternal choice among all promising children – studying or sport. What would you choose?

-          Sport stimulates and keeps fit. Who makes progress in sport can advance in everything. We know it from our own experience and we see how it is happening now with our children. Sport makes people organized, more responsible and determined. I’m sure she will succeed in everything – in sport and in life.

-          Kristina is a promising gymnast, she has won several international tournaments. What does she think about these victories? And what do you think about them?

-          She doesn’t like and even gets offended when I praise her before the eyes of people. Victories and awards are the results of a hard work. And Kristina understands it perfectly.

-          Have you ever faced jealousy?

-          Jealousy is a destroying feeling. We teach our children not to pay attention to it. The emotions should be concentrated on our own efforts.

-          It is clear that now you can’t predict whether she becomes a famous gymnast or chooses any other career. And what does she want for now?

-          We’ll see. Kristina has a goal and she works a lot for it. I don’t want to speak for herself. But I think she knows what she does. 

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